CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: THE BOP: A WORKSHOP WITH AFAA M. WEAVER
Cave Canem
INFO: Applications are open for Cave Canem’s fall Workshop “The Bop.” The 10-session workshop will explore the Bop, a poetic form invented by Afaa Weaver at an early Cave Canem retreat. Not unlike the Shakespearean sonnet in trajectory, the Bop is a form of poetic argument comprising three stanzas, each stanza followed by a repeated line, or refrain, and each undertaking a different purpose in the overall argument of the poem. Participants will have the opportunity to delve into a deep study of this poetic form with its originator.
Adult black poets of African descent living in New York City’s five boroughs. Instructor selects participants on the basis of work submitted. Preference is given to applicants who have enrolled in fewer than three Cave Canem workshops.
TUITION: Free
DEADLINE: September 1, 2016, 11:59 EST
DATES / TIMES:
- Workshops: Wednesdays - September 21 and 28; October 5, 12 and 26; November 2, 9 and 16; and December 7, 6-9pm
- Final Reading: Wednesday, December 14, 6:30 pm
cavecanem.submittable.com/submit/62089
INFO: The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognizes outstanding works that contribute to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of cultural diversity. Awards are given for fiction, poetry and nonfiction.
To submit a book for consideration, send five copies with a completed copy of the Entry Form to:
Karen R. Long
c/o Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
The Cleveland Foundation
1422 Euclid Avenue, Suite 1300
Cleveland, OH 44115
Phone: 216.685.2018
Email: Submit@Anisfield-Wolf.org
Upon receipt, the books will be forwarded to the jury. All submitted materials become the property of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards and will not be returned. The winners will be announced in the spring.
SUBMISSION PERIOD: September 1 – December 31, 2016
anisfield-wolf.org/submissions/submission-guidelines/
Sustainable Arts Foundation
INFO: Starting with their Fall 2016 Awards, Sustainable Arts Foundation – a non-profit foundation supporting artists and writers with families – is committed to offering half of its awards to applicants of color.
Writers may apply in one of the following categories:
- Fiction
- Creative Nonfiction
- Poetry
- Long Form Journalism
- Playwriting
- Picture Books
- Early and Middle Grade Fiction
- Young Adult Fiction
- Graphic Novel
AWARDS:
- Sustainable Arts Foundation Award: $6,000
- Sustainable Arts Foundation Promise Award: $2,000
DEADLINE: September 2, 2016, 8pm EST
apply.sustainableartsfoundation.org/
30 BELOW CONTEST
Narrative Magazine
INFO: Narrative invites all writers, poets, visual artists, photographers, performers, and filmmakers between eighteen and thirty years old to send their best work. They’re looking for the traditional and the innovative, the true and the imaginary. They’re looking to encourage and promote the best young authors and artists working today.
AWARDS:
- First Prize is $1,500
- Second Prize is $750
- Third Prize is $300
- Ten finalists will receive $100 each
SUBMISSION PERIOD: September 9 – November 9, 2016
narrativemagazine.com/node/345528
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BLACK LIVES MATTER SPECIAL ISSUE
Wild Age Press
INFO: Wild Age Press seeks fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry written by African American and Black authors for a special Black Lives Matter issue. This issue will be guest edited by Katrina Otuonye and will run this winter.
The theme can be interpreted broadly, but we are specifically looking to publish work by African American and Black authors. Send up to five poems totaling no more than ten pages. If sending multiple pieces, please include them all in one document.
DEADLINE: September 15, 2016
wildagepress.submittable.com/submit
RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE FELLOWSHIPS
Harvard University
INFO: The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program is a scholarly community where individuals pursue advanced work across a wide range of academic disciplines, professions, and creative arts (including Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction/Biography/ Autobiography/Memoir, and Nonfiction/Current Issues and other topics).
To be considered for a fellowship in poetry, applicants must have had at least 20 poems published in the last five years or a published book of poetry and must be in the process of completing a manuscript. Reviewers examine the submissions for evidence of originality, vision, and maturity. Recommendations from editors and/or agents are not acceptable.
STIPEND: Up to $75,000 for one year with additional funds for project expenses. Some support for relocation expenses is provided where relevant. They work with fellows with families who have particular issues connected to relocating to smooth the transition. If so directed, Radcliffe will pay the stipend to the fellow’s home institution. Please note that they can only pay stipends to home institutions if they are US based. Fellows receive office or studio space and access to libraries and other resources of Harvard University during the fellowship year, which extends from early September 2017 through May 31, 2018.
Fellows are expected to be free of their regular commitments so they may devote themselves full time to the work outlined in their proposal. Since this is a residential fellowship, they expect fellows to reside in the Boston area during that period and to have their primary office at the Institute so that they can participate fully in the life of the community.
Applicants will be notified by e-mail in March of the results.
DEADLINE: September 15, 2016
radcliffe.harvard.edu/fellowship-program/how-apply
SILLERMAN FIRST BOOK PRIZE FOR AFRICAN POETS
African Poetry Book Fund
INFO: The African Poetry Book Fund is accepting submissions for the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets.
The contest is open to African writers who have not yet published a book-length poetry collection. (An African writer is taken as someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.)
PRIZE: $1,000 US and publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal.
SUBMISSION FEE: $0
SUBMISSION PERIOD: September 15 – December 1, 2016
africanpoetrybf.unl.edu/?page_id=2058#sillerman
Timeless, Infinite Light
INFO: Timeless, Infinite Light, an Oakland-based small press that publishes contemporary writing, is looking for poetry, essays, poetic-essays, or multi-tiered works. Their vision for the contest is to create a home for hybrid and cross-genre work that is embodied or deeply experimental in form, as well as site-specific or urgent critical writing.
For this contest, they are accepting new, completed full-length manuscripts (70-120 pages in book form). They are unable to consider previously published work.
The submissions will be read by our three celebrity guest judges, Melissa Buzzeo, Mg Roberts, and Divya Victor. The three judges will read, collaborate, and select one manuscript as the official contest winner.
The winning author will have their manuscript designed and published by Timeless, Infinite Light, and will receive royalties and 10 free copies of their book.
They are looking for new works by both emerging and established writers, and encourage people of color, immigrants, queer, trans, disabled, and undocumented people, and other people whose identities are underrepresented in the literary mainstream to apply.
DEADLINE: September 22, 2016
timelessinfinitelight.com/pages/open-submission-contest-2016
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL NEW VOICES AWARD
Lee & Low Books
INFO: Lee & Low Books, award-winning publisher of children’s books, announces the seventeenth annual New Voices Award, which will be given for a children’s picture book manuscript by a writer of color.
Established in 2000, the New Voices Award encourages writers of color to submit their work to a publisher that takes pride in nurturing new talent. The contest is open to writers of color who are residents of the United States, 18 years or older at the time of entry, and who have not previously had a children’s picture book published.
Submissions may be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry for children ages 5 to 12.
PRIZE: The Award winner receives a cash prize of $1000 and our standard publication contract, including L&L’s basic advance and royalties for a first time author. An Honor Award winner will receive a cash prize of $500.
DEADLINE: September 30, 2016
leeandlow.com/writers-illustrators/new-voices-award
TOI DERRICOTTE & CORNELIUS EADY CHAPBOOK PRIZE
Cave Canem
INFO: The Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize is dedicated to the discovery of exceptional chapbook-length manuscripts by black poets, and is presented in collaboration with the O, Miami Poetry Festival. It is open to black poets whether or not they've published a book,
PRIZE: $500, publication by Jai-Alai Books in 2017, 10 copies of the chapbook, an April 1-7, 2017 residency at The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel, and a feature reading on April 5, 2017 at the O, Miami Poetry Festival.
ENTRY FEE: $12
DEADLINE: September 30, 2016 at 11:59 pm EST
cavecanem.submittable.com/submit/63102
Claudius Speaks
INFO: Claudius Speaks, a journal of bold art and writing that celebrates emerging talent, seeks in all forms. Poems cannot exceed 20 lines. Each submission may have a maximum of 3 poems. The poems should be contained in a single file and the submission should showcase your best work. The theme for issue two is "Song." Feel free to interpret this theme however you see fit.
COMPENSATION: $15
DEADLINE: October 1, 2016